Does anyone have any feelings for Yule Catto?

I sold short on CFD a few weeks back but now they seem to be on the way back up.
They seem to be building support at 240 and are testing the 270.

If any has any opinions on which way they're heading, I greatly appreciate.

Graham

Questorr/Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/questor/9144115/Questor-share-tip-Yule-Catto-has-the-right-mix-to-weather-tough-times.html

14 March: Barclays reiterates: Overweight - ups TP from 237p to 278p.

Numis: downgrades to 'add'- previously 'buy'.

16 March:

Brewin Dolphin: Downgrades to Add

Numis Securities: Upgrades to Buy

22 March: JP Morgan reiterates: Overweight. TP upped from 250p
to 280p.

From last week's Shares Mag:
"Royston Wild -
BUY Yule Catto (YULC) ahead of works completion at its Malaysian latex factory in the fourth quarter, which represents the next major milestone in ramping up its exposure to key emerging markets in South-East Asia. The Harlow firm is due to expand its nitrile latex operations at the Pasir Gudang plant by 70,000 tonnes, which it hopes will give it the edge in the accelerating synthetic glove industry. The FTSE 250 firm’s share price has rocketed following
last week’s full-year results (14 Mar), which showed a 25% increase in pre-tax profits to £96 million, on a proforma basis that excludes the impact of the March 2011 PolymerLatex. Yule Catto is seeking to boost capacity in Asia by 50% by 2013 as it ploughs funds in to developing geographies. A forward price/earnings ratio of 10.3 times, according to consensus estimates, looks good value for a firm due to increase earnings per share by 26% this year and 10% next, to 23.6p and 25.9p respectively.

StockMarketWire.com
Ishbel Macpherson has joined the Board of Yule Catto as an independent non-executive director.

As announced previously, Neil Johnson has succeeded Peter Wood as chairman. Jez Maiden, who has been an independent non-executive director of the company since 2007, will assume the role of senior independent director with immediate effect.

Pre-Close Trading Update

Yule Catto & Co plc today issues a trading update in advance of entering its close period.

The challenging trading conditions outlined at the time of the Group's May Interim Management Statement have continued through the remainder of the first half of the year.

In our Europe and North America business segment, demand remains subdued, driven by continuing economic uncertainty and its effect on general business confidence. Demand is currently a little weaker than the first few months of the year, with business in the construction related sector continuing to be the weakest area of activity. Margin management has fully compensated for the volume declines, and our European business is benefitting from the synergies of the PolymerLatex acquisition at the expected levels.

In Asia and ROW, the Group's non-nitrile businesses are performing well. In nitrile, the weakness in end market demand continues. This, combined with the effect of recent capacity additions has led to increasingly aggressive competitor pricing and a further weakening of profitability in nitrile. Additional competitive capacity is also due on stream during the course of the summer. The Board remains confident in the long term value that the Group will derive from this high growth sector. However, given the overall supply demand position, competitive behaviour and the volatility in trading caused by rapidly changing input prices, the Board now anticipates the current weakness in nitrile will probably continue throughout the remainder of this year and into next year. This will substantially lower operating profit in our Asia and ROW business segment while this persists.

The impact of currency remains uncertain, with the volatility in the euro. Based on current exchange rates, the Board anticipates a reduction to operating profit of some £5 million from translation consistent with the guidance on currency issued with the Group's IMS in May.

While the combination of weakness in nitrile and currency translation effects will impact the Group's performance, the Board still anticipates that full year underlying profit before tax will be ahead of prior year pro-forma.

Yule Catto will announce interim results for the six months to 30 June 2012 on Tuesday 28 August 2012.

Explains why the sp has been falling recently
culminating in today's statement and dive.
But timing purchases judiciously has been a
good move for me in the past and market tends to
over-react initially.

What do you think, HC?

Short term profit possibly in a quick bounce, but not one I am holding atm and not currently tempted. I tend to dip in for the divi, but looks like the recession has eventually affected this company now. Mervyn King also noted yesterday that Asia was now starting to slide towards recession, so YULC isn't out of trouble yet. (MK : my concern about the worsening I see in the position in Asia and other emerging markets," King said "and my colleagues in the United States are more concerned than they were at the beginning of the year about what is happening to the American economy,")

Always good to get another view. Not holding either
and not thinking of jumping in atm. Better value elsewhere, imo.

Yule Catto is a specialist polymers business. The company sells products that find their way into adhesives, floor coverings and gloves.At the end of June, the company issued a trading statement that saw the shares lose almost one quarter of their value. Yule Catto reported weak economic conditions in Europe and adverse currency movements. This means the company will not be making the anticipated level of profit for the year. Still, Yule Catto does expect underlying profit to show progress on last year's numbers.This follows a five-year period in which eps has increased nearly threefold as sales doubled. After being cut entirely in 2009, the dividend was restored the next year and has progressed significantly since.Today, the shares trade on a P/E of just 6.4 times 2011 profits. Although growth has stumbled recently, the shares look worthy of further research.

July 3: JP Morgan Cazenove dongrades YULC to Neutral.
Massive drop in TP from 280p to 180p.

Bought into this today after getting a long signal denoting a potential new uptrend. Will hold until the trend reverses. Please note I trade based solely on price action, not fundamentals. GLTA

Steve

Stopped out today following poor price action the secondhalf of this week. Can't win them all. Move on to the next trade.

Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2012

SOLID PERFORMANCE IN CHALLENGING MARKET CONDITIONS

H1 HIGHLIGHTS *
· Solid Group performance despite challenging macroeconomic conditions and tough trading environment in Asian nitrile markets

· Strong performance in Europe and North America reflecting underlying profit growth and the benefits of the PolymerLatex acquisition synergies

· £9 million of synergies from PolymerLatex in H1; on track to deliver £25 million of total synergies by March 2013

· Asia and ROW impacted by previously announced competitive environment in nitrile latex, with continued good levels of growth across other businesses

· 83.3% increase in interim dividend reflects commitment to deliver a progressive dividend policy

· Strong balance sheet; Net debt reduced to £174 million (H1 2011: £240 million)

· Board strengthened by appointments of Ishbel Macpherson and Dr. Just Jansz

* All numbers on an underlying basis. 2011 comparatives, other than EPS, are adjusted to a pro-forma basis

Commenting on the results, Adrian Whitfield, Group Chief Executive, said:

"We have delivered a solid set of results in a challenging environment driven by a strong performance in Europe and North America, which accounted for 84% of our profits. The PolymerLatex acquisition has significantly enhanced our product portfolio and reach, as well as provided additional cash resources which we are using to invest in emerging markets and innovation to position us for future growth.

As previously announced, the nitrile latex business experienced a difficult competitive environment, driving a weaker performance in that part of our Asia and ROW business, with the rest of the portfolio making good progress.

Assuming there is no further deterioration in the global economy, the Board's expectations remain unchanged from the June trading update, for full year underlying profit before tax ahead of 2011 pro-forma of £96 million."

So what do you read into that, HC?

No idea! I quite like this company as it seems to be well run by a competent management. Cynic recently said that he had seen a noticeable increase in bulk chemical trading recently, so this may be a medium term, relatively safe investment, though I have very little knowledge of the chemicals industry. On my watchlist, but not holding atm.

Thanks. I used to be quite good at envisioning
where this one was going but of late I seem to
have lost my touch (market conditions) and haven't
held for a while.

UBS note:
"Yule Catto reported H1 turnover which missed by 4%, with volumes down 9.5% yoy (UBSest neg4%), and pricing slightly better. Volumes in Europe/NAFTA reported down 11.5%, and down 4.2% in Asia. However, the worse than forecast European performance reflects both cyclical headwinds in construction as well as deliberate price over volume. Hence margins progressed nicely.

At EBIT and PTP levels, Yule beat by 7%/8% via impressive y/y 300bps op.mrg improvement (12.7% from 9.7%) in Europe/NAFTA. 1) price over volume 2) synergies from the PolymerLatex deal (9m sterling increment to EBIT/ H1) and 3) sharply falling petrochemical raw material prices towards the end of Q2 led to a strong performance in the operations outside Asia/RoW. Asian EBIT down 42% as forecast (400bps jmrg compression to 6.7%), due to Nitrile Latex oversupply.

Interim divi of 2.2p, up 83% yoy. Mgmt guides FY DPS of 5.5p (UBSe 5.97p). Equity FCF (neg 14m Sterling) came in as per seasonal weakness, but net debt already reached our FY forecast of 174m Sterling. Outlook calls for FY PTP ahead of 96m Sterling vs cons 97m and UBSe 90m –a relief given recent share weakness.

Shares trade on 7.1x PE and 6.1x EV/EBITDA vs UK chems on 13.5x and 8.8x, respectively. We view Yule as a valuation call with self-help appeal in 2012. From H2 2013, we would expect cyclical recovery in the ailing Nitrile Latex ops."

YULC

Brokers giving YULC a lot of support.

Forward P/E of just over 7.

Way too cheap.

Yule Catto & Co PLC

FORECASTS 2012 2013
Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Peel Hunt
28-08-12 BUY 99.00 20.84 4.00 106.50 22.98 4.50
N+1 Brewin [W]
28-08-12 HOLD 95.90 20.30 5.00 99.00 20.90 5.50
Canaccord Genuity Ltd
28-08-12 BUY 103.30 21.90 5.50 105.10 22.20 6.00
Numis Securities Ltd
28-08-12 BUY 98.00 21.20 5.50 117.00 25.40 7.00
Westhouse Securities [W]
28-06-12 None

2012 2013
Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Consensus 100.14 21.33 5.04 109.66 23.55 5.89
1 Month Change 1.24 0.20 0.56 -3.22 -0.82 0.74
3 Month Change -12.50 -2.72 0.42 -15.10 -3.13 0.44

Notes to forecasts
(27 Jun 2012) W flag refers to outlook


GROWTH
2011 (A) 2012 (E) 2013 (E)

Norm. EPS -4.98% 35.16% 10.39%
DPS 92.31% 101.60% 16.81%

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2011 (A) 2012 (E) 2013 (E)

EBITDA £116.08m £137.78m £147.83m
EBIT £74.14m £116.80m £117.80m
Dividend Yield 1.52% 3.06% 3.57%
Dividend Cover 6.31x 4.23x 4.00x
PER 10.46x 7.74x 7.01x
PEG -2.10f 0.22f 0.67f
Net Asset Value PS -43.08p p p